The Niagara Falls Pirates were the short-season Class A farm club of the Pittsburgh Pirates throughout the 1970’s. Future Pittsburgh regulars such as Dale Berra, Omar Moreno, Ed Ott and Rod Scurry all began their climb to the Major Leagues in Niagara Falls.

The team managed only three winning seasons out of ten. Niagara Falls’ finest hour came during the summer of 1972 when the club won the New York-Penn League pennant with a 48-22 record.

The Pirates’ final season in Niagara Falls was the summer of 1979. The NY-Penn League returned to Sal Maglie Stadium in 1982 with the arrival of the Niagara Falls White Sox.

The Niagara Falls Rapids were the last Major League-affiliated pro baseball team to call Niagara Falls, New York home. The Detroit Tigers short-season Class A farm club play five seasons in the New York-Penn League from 1989 to 1993. The Rapids won the league title in the final summer of play in 1993.

Rapids founder Bob Rich was an experienced and respected minor league operator who also owned the popular Class AAA Buffalo Bisons and the Class AA Wichita Wranglers. In 1991, an audit of Sal Maglie Stadium recommended $1.8 million in upgrades to bring the aging stadium into compliance with rising minor league facility standards dictated by Major League Baseball. This, combined with the Rapids’ persistent financial losses, ultimately doomed the club in the Cataract City.

Rich moved the ball club to Jamestown, New York after his 5-year lease of Sal Maglie Stadium expired in late 1993. The team moved again in 2015 to Morgantown, West Virginia where it is known today as the West Virginia Black Bears. Rich still owns the franchise as of this writing in 2017, nearly 30 years after founding the club in Niagara Falls.

The Sox were a short season single-A farm club of the Chicago White Sox from 1982 to 1985, one of the bottom rung’s on Chicago’s developmental ladder. Twelve Niagara Falls players from the White Sox era ultimately made it to the Major Leagues. The most notable were 1990 National League Cy Young Award winner Doug Drabek and closer Bobby Thigpen, who established a Major League record with 57 saves with Chicago in 1990.

The Sox won the New York-Penn League title during the club’s first season in the summer of 1982.

Owner George Wenz paid less than $10,000 for the ball club prior to the 1982 season. After the 1985 season, he sold the team for a reported $250,000 and the franchise relocated to Ontario where it became the St. Catharine’s Blue Jays.